Seven years ago, the Grow Your Own Teachers Education Initiative was started to help improve schools in low-income communities. The program provides financial assistance to undergraduates to help them become teachers in low-income schools.

“The GYO program has helped low-income schools by giving them excellent teachers who know the kids, know the community, and know the issues because they’ve lived there themselves,” Anne Hallett, the director of Grow Your Own Illinois, said.

The program specifically aims to find members of communities who want to become accredited teachers but lack the education to do so. This includes parents, community leaders and school employees who aren’t teachers.

Once GYO candidates become teachers, 85 percent of them teach in or near their hometown.

Candidates for the GYO program are required to have a high school diploma or GED. They must be an active member of their community and qualify for federal financial aid. There is also a Pre-GYO program for people who don’t yet qualify for the GYO program. It includes all the benefits of the GYO program with the exception of tuition assistance. Pre-GYO candidates participate in GYO events and seminars.

The program has also helped increase diversity in schools.

“Almost all GYO candidates are people of color,” said Hallett.”In Illinois, more than 40 percent of the students are of color, and less than 13 percent of teachers are of color. By educating teachers of color we are able to diversify schools.”

The primary goal of the GYO Education Initiative is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income, hard-to-staff Illinois schools by 2016. As of fall 2012, 80-90 graduates are teaching in low-income classrooms and 300 GYO and Pre-GYO candidates are attending college.

There are currently 12 GYO partnerships in Illinois. In Missouri, the Fort Zumwalt School District in O’Fallon instituted the program in 2005. This school district only accepts graduates of FOrt Zumwalt into their program. The school district hopes the GYO program will raise awareness among Fort Zumwalt students wanting to pursue a career in teaching, as well as increasing the number of quality teaching candidates for hard to fill areas in the Fort Zumwalt School District. Other school districts in Missouri have yet to implement the program.
“The candidates are inspirational,” said Hallett. “They say it’s a dream come true – they always wanted to be a teacher but didn’t have the money to pay for school.”